In 1985 the heavy-metal rock band Iron Maiden released an album with the cheerful title, Live after Death. One of the songs included therein bears the title "Revelations"; and barely decipherable there, amid the successive detonations of electric guitar, someone is singing the words of Chesterton's famous 1905 Christian hymn, "Oh God of Earth and Altar."
We don't know whether GKC rolled over in his grave or smiled.
If only I still had that album, and a record player, I'd give it a listen.
ReplyDeletehere is the complete lyric for
ReplyDeleteRevelations
"O God of Earth and Altar,
Bow down and hear our cry,
Our earthly rulers falter,
Our people drift and die,
The walls of gold entomb us,
The swords of scorn divide,
Take not thy thunder from us,
But take away our pride."
[G.K Chesterton: English Hymnal]
Just a babe in a black abyss,
No reason for a place like this,
The walls are cold and souls cry out in pain,
An easy way for the blind to go,
A clever path for the fools who know
The Secret of the Hanged Man - the smile on his lips.
The light of the Blind - you'll see,
The venom that tears my spine,
The Eyes of the Nile are opening - you'll see.
She came to me with a serpent's kiss,
As the Eye of the Sun rose on her lips,
Moonlight catches silver tears I cry,
So we lay in a black embrace,
And the Seed is sown in a holy place
And I watched, and I waited for the Dawn.
The light of the Blind - you'll see,
The venom that tears my spine,
The Eyes of the Nile are opening - you'll see.
Blind all of us together,
Ablaze with Hope and Free,
No storm or heavy weather
Will rock the boat you'll see.
The time has come to close your eyes
And still the wind and rain,
For the one who will be King
Is the Watcher in the Ring.
It is You.